School is out and the Jakarta Fair is on, but this holiday season something else has been getting kids and their parents outdoors.
At 7 a.m. on Saturday dozens of young boys and parents flocked to the Jakartakan Orang Jakarta (literally “make the people of Jakarta into Jakartans”) fair in the parking lot of Pasaraya Manggarai in South Jakarta; many wore sarongs and looked nervous as they waited to get circumcised, an important ritual for Muslim boys aged 6 to 12.
“I feel a little bit tense. I hope everything is going to be OK,” Fahri Nugraha, 10, of Kebon Kosong in Central Jakarta told The Jakarta Post.
Fahri was one of the 47 boys who attended the mass circumcision ceremony, which was part of the Jakartakan Orang Jakarta (JOJ) fair organized by the NGO Kopijak (Committee of Care for Jakarta).
The annual five-day JOJ fair, held to coincide with Jakarta’s anniversary, has is an alternative festival intended for poorer city residents looking for an alternative to the increasingly commercialized Jakarta Fair. The JOJ fair offers much cheaper and several free activities and more celebrations with Betawi cultural elements.
“The [JOJ] fair is free of charge, too,” said visitor Oktavia Puspitasari, adding that she liked the JOJ fair because many of its vendors sold affordable traditional Betawi foods including kerak telor (Betawi omelet) and Betawi soup.
For instance, kerak telor was sold for Rp 10,000 (US$1.10), cheaper than at the Jakarta Fair, which charged visitors between Rp 15,000 and Rp 20,000 for entry fees, and the Betawi omelet there costs Rp 15,000, Oktavia said.
The fair itself is now in its ninth year, and takes place in a different location every year. Last year more than 1,500 people came to the fair last.
JOJ committee chief Benny Sadikin said the festival was aimed to revitalize the social, cultural and traditional elements of Betawi and of Jakarta, which is a melting pot for more than 9 million residents from various ethnic and social backgrounds.
“Through this fesival we preserve the cultural tradition, fusing it with modernity,” Benny said, adding that through culture, people could unite and foster harmonious relationships. (tsy)
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